Forge City Works Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
261412551
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Hartford, CT, USA
Phone
8605489877
Rating
88
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Community, Neighborhood Development

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,556,580
Expenses
$6,447,878
Assets
$2,403,524
Liabilities
$1,208,550

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BENJAMIN DUBOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • BENJAMIN DUBOW (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $136,180 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Forge city works uses the power of food to transform people, neighborhoods, and our city by creating food-based career pathways, providing equitable, affordable food access, and operating food-based social enterprise businesses.

What it reported doing in 2025

Job training: our job training program prepares low-income residents with barriers to employment for jobs each year, focusing on both soft skills and technical culinary skills. Most participants are opportunity youth (ages 18-24 who are disconnected from school and work). Participants earn minimum wage during training and work 20-25 hours/week for about 16 weeks in level 1 while they master initial skills, then move up to level 2 internships. Wages earned by trainees in the program in 2025 totaled $255,208. In 2025, 40 participants started the program; 82% of participants exiting the program successfully completed level 1 training. In 2025, 76% of graduates found work within 90 days of exiting the program with average starting wages of 17% over minimum wage. We hire trainees too: 15-20% of our hourly workforce are training graduates.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 89
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 17
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -16%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.37; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.5; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $136K · 17 people listed
  • Consistency: 32 of 32 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 37/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 12/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.